I think we are going to be got at again.

I found this on facebook. Recreational boat survey

You might be right. But I went online and did the survey.

I think that people who want to do lots of in-water cleaning, or careen their boats on sandbanks could well draw some regulatory attention. I only occasionally give the hull a light rub in the water, along the waterline, and rely on the ablative fouling to mostly do its job alone. I would think anyone who regularly cleans the hull in-water is using a hard antifoul.

I'm hoping to use the boat more regularly this year than previously, and by doing that and with luck I'll get 18 months or maybe two years out of the antifoul and propspeed.

I have a yard do the antifoul. Once recently I assisted with hull cleaning and prep, but I have not applied antifoul myself for almost 20 years.

I did the survey as well.

The other issue that is becoming more of a concern, especially since copper additives have been phased out, is the transfer of invasive species from big city harbours to more the pristine waters.

There are efforts being made in SA to stop the spread of European fanworm by recreational boats. The fanworm is now in most Australian major ports and wreaks havoc in the local marine ecosystem.

Interesting. I am berthed in the Brisbane River, about 10 nm upstream of the Port of Brisbane. I wonder how far the invasive species at the Port have migrated upstream?

Where I am seems to have a relatively high rate of fouling, despite water being murky most of the time from river silt. Tidal currents of a knot or more are common though, so lots of nutrients available to aid growth of the crap.

Having said that, I remember when I was at Newport Marina, very clear water in a canal estate without any significant catchment runoff, the barnacle growth seemed ferocious. Either that or they felt the USA antifoul I had on at the time was particularly tasty!

This is my second season using International Micron Extra. It is an ablative paint with biocide. It seemed to give me quite good performance. A lot of locals like the Jotun paint, but I decided to extend my 'trial' of the Micron Extra for another season. Going this route reduced prep, perhaps even a full primer coat would have been needed to go to Jotun.

I will likely give the hull a light rub before heading up to the Great Barrier Reef this season. Mostly to have as slick a hull as possible, but it may assist in managing the issue you noted. Mind you, there are enough coal/LNG ports up there that anything I do will likely make very little difference.

7 mths with sea barrier 3000 and the only place I have seen crap growing is where the anchor chain rubbed on the bow in a wind against tide situation.
Waterline is clean.
766 g/l of copper as cuprous oxide.

Not sure if giving the bottom a light rub down makes a jot of difference on a trawler.
Over a dozen large anodes and several house brick sized transducers would have a far greater affect on performance me thinks.

Brian,
I used Micron Extra in Alaska. Got 3 years out of it (no washing/cleaning) but I disagree about the ablative claim. I had to scrape the bottom. Never will do that again. Could have had at least something to do w what was on under the Micron though.